Egyptian protesters tore down U.S. embassy flag

Egyptian protesters inside the US embassy in Cairo raise a black flag inscribed with the Muslim profession of belief: "There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God", during a protest against a film deemed offensive to Islam.

Thousands of Egyptian demonstrators angered by a film deemed offensive to Islam tore down the US flag during a protest at the embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, an AFP photographer reported.

Nearly 3,000 demonstrators, most of them hardline Islamist supporters of the Salafist movement or football fans, gathered at the embassy in protest over a film deemed offensive to the Prophet Mohammed which was produced by expatriate members of Egypt’s Christian minority resident in the United States.

A dozen men scaled over the embassy walls and one of them tore down the Stars and Stripes, replacing it with a black flag inscribed with the Muslim profession of faith: “There is no God but God and Mohammed is the prophet of God.”

Police intervened without resort to force and persuaded the demonstrators to come down.